Simulator Trouble
by Azecreth
Summary: Kirby and Fox get stuck in the simulator room, and have to fight their way out as the Brawlers outside try to save them. Written for Foxpilot's and PitFTW's Contest of Reviews, so reviews are encouraged. Rated T for Violence and Language.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: I do not own SSB. Artistic license stolen from Star Trek. This was written for Foxpilot's and PitFTW's Contest of Reviews, so reviews are obviously encouraged. Rated T for language and violence.

* * *

Fox McCloud was annoyed, very annoyed. He had just lost a match to Luigi of all people. The fact that he lost to Mario's lame ass brother was embarrassing beyond belief. The more powerful fighters like Samus and Wolf had already given him grief for it. They would never let him live this down.

He growled angrily as he stomped through the halls of the Mansion. He was sure that Luigi's victory had been nothing but dumbass luck, but nobody else saw it that way. Because seriously, Luigi has horrible range, and he wasn't very fast either. It should have been a breeze to keep out of his way and pummel him with the Laser Pistol until he was damaged enough to get ejected. But no. somehow Luigi pulled a victory out of nowhere. Fox refused to believe that it was overconfidence that had led to his defeat. Luigi was just a bad fighter. even the fans agreed so. Now he had to train to make sure he utterly crushed his next opponent. That was the only way he could get some respect back.

For now, he aimed to work out some aggression by beating up enemies in the simulator room. That would at least make him feel better. And he might even get a workout out of it. Once he finished here, he'd head down to the gym and beat up a sandbag or two. His next match was tomorrow, so he had some time to prepare.

Rounding the corner, he found himself at the entrance to the simulation room. Checking the status of the room on the monitor next to the door, he saw that it was unoccupied. He slammed open the metal door and stepped inside.

* * *

Kirby ran happily through the halls of the mansion, en route to the simulator room. In his hand he held a disk he had received from a mail in ad. It contained a special program that apparently involved an all you can eat buffet and a chocolate fountain, among other things. He smiled in anticipation as he pounded down the corridor.

As anyone could tell, Kirby liked food. He liked food so much that, he had gotten himself banned from the cafeteria so there would be enough food for the other fighters, who didn't seem to be walking stomachs. That was why he had turned to this virtual program. It may have been fake food, but it tasted so good. However, his other programs were lacking in what he really wanted, so he had ordered this one.

Spinning around the corner, he ran towards the nearby simulator room. Stopping in front of the monitor, he placed the disk in the loading dock then pushed it into the computer. Not checking to see if someone was already using the simulator, he ran over to the door, slammed it open, and ran inside. And why not? Nobody used the simulator this early in the day. Everyone he could think of was usually in the gym around this time..

* * *

Fox pressed forcefully on the virtual keypad in the center of the medium sized black room, loading up the designated combat scenario and setting it on the highest difficulty level. As the loading sequence initiated, Fox was distracted from checking his weapon by the door to the room slamming open and a pink puffball charging into Fox.

Fox fell to the ground then bounded right back up and strode angrily towards the intruder.

"Kirby..." he started yelling.

Before he could rage, the Boss Battle scenario finished loading. Fox found himself on a lake bed. Spinning around, he saw a large green dragon staring him down. Kirby's eyes widened, and then tightened as he prepared to fight.

Rayquaza roared at them both, then charged and fired a ball of energy at Fox. He smirked, then flipped on his reflector, throwing the ball of energy back at Rayquaza. He then pulled out his laser pistol and started firing at the green dragon.

Kirby was surprised to find himself in the Boss Battle scenario, but quickly ran to attack Rayquaza, unleashing a flurry of punches. With the two attacks hitting him, Rayquaza's health dropped fast. The dragon roared the whipped its tail, sending Kirby flying. The pink warrior recovered in the air then slammed down with his sword, creating a shockwave that hit Rayquaza as Fox kept shooting.

Rayquaza flew into the sky and vanished. Fox holstered his gun and looked around for the green dragon. Kirby waddled over, a happy look on his face.

Before Fox could resume yelling at Kirby for barging in on his training, the ground swelled underneath him and he had to dodge to the side as Rayquaza blasted out from the ground underneath him. Fox and Kirby ran quickly, managing to dodge eery time the dragon came out of the ground.

When Rayquaza returned to its initial position opposite them, the two began attacking again. Kirby dodged another tail whip, and they both jumped over a shockwave attack as they kept whittling down Rayquaza's health. they took some damage as well, but it was relatively low, not more than 20%.

Finally, their attacks knocked Rayquaza down to zero health, and the dragon collapsed with a roar as it exploded. There was a brief interlude of no activity, then the two victorious fighters found themselves in an underground grotto, the rest area before the next boss.

Fox rounded on Kirby angrily. "Hey man, I was using the simulator. Get the hell out."

A sad look leapt to Kirby's face, causing Fox to sigh as his anger vanished. "Look, you can use your program when I'm done, but this wasn't supposed to be co-op."

Kirby nodded in understanding. "Poy-poyo," he said as a smile returned to his face.

He ran over to the control panel that appears on the side of the grottoes wall. He pressed the "Remove Player" button, only for it to flash red and beep in denial of the action. He pressed it again, but the same thing happened. Just to make sure, he rubbed his eyes and then body checked the button, only to achieve the same result.

Kirby waved his arms at Fox. "Aiy!"

Fox walked over with his hands on his hips. "What do you mean, 'You can't exit out'?"

He punched the "End Program" button, only for it to give the negative red flash as well.

He and Kirby shared a confused look. "Well, that's a problem," said Fox as he punched the button again, a sense of urgency overtaking him.

He then pressed the button furiously, refusing to think the thought that was obvious in his mind. _No, this cannot be happening. This thing never breaks. Not with at least 4 people from highly advanced civilizations. _When it became obvious that the button wouldn't work, he glanced at Kirby with a concerned look.

"I think we're in trouble."


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Thanks for the reviews so far. Keep them coming.

* * *

"So why can't we exit the program," Fox asked himself as he started pacing in front of the holographic control panel.

Kirby shrugged. He was as confused as Fox was, if not more, since Kirby didn't come from a technologically advanced civilization like Fox did. Fox thought about what he had done before the fight. He had just gone into the center of the room and loaded up the program from the digital archives. The Boss fight Program was used a lot, so it was inconvenient to have to use a disk. He hadn't done anything different than what he usually did, so nothing he did should have resulted in an error. That meant...

"Kirby, did you put in a new program disk before you came in here?"

"Poyo Pai," replied Kirby, thinking of all the food that was waiting once Fox fixed the simulator and they got out of there.

Fox smacked his forehead. "Kirby you idiot, you don't try and start up a new program when there's already one loading up. So that's what happened. You broke the freaking simulator."

Kirby looked at Fox, crushed by the outburst. Sure, he didn't understand half the science involved in this machine, but surely there had to be some sort of safeguard to prevent something like this happening.

"Ker-Briiii," asked Kirby.

"No, I don't know what that means to us. I'll get to work on seeing if I can fix it from the inside, while you sit there. And don't go on to the next fight. Got it?"

Kirby nodded, and sat down on a rock while Fox got to work typing on the control panel, trying to make a bypass. About five minutes passed before Fox stopped typing and knelt down, trying to pry open the base from where the control panel was projected. He snarled as it proved impossible to leverage up without tools that he didn't have.

"Dang it. Alright Kirby, here's what we're going to do. I've been pretty much locked out of the controls because of what you did, and I don't have the tools to access the insides of the hologram generators, so we are going to sit tight here until someone notices we're missing and comes to find us."

He glanced over at screen projected on the wall of the cave to see who the next boss was in the sequence. Meta Ridley, well, that wasn't too bad, he supposed. Not that it mattered, since he planned on getting out with Kirby once they fixed the simulator from the outside. He slumped down against the cave wall and pulled out his pistol.

"I'd get comfortable if I were you, this might take a while," said Fox as he started disassembling his Pistol.

Kirby contented himself with running in circles while waving his arms, trying to keep his patience in check. Fox shot Kirby a glance that said, _you're annoying me so much. Sit down and shut up_, but Kirby didn't notice. Fox shook his head and both of them settled down to wait.

* * *

Morning in the Smash Mansion came slowly. There were no matches scheduled for today, so most of the fighters took the chance to get a bit of extra sleep. Nobody was in a real hurry to do anything.

The Mansion slowly crawled awake, and the Brawlers got started with the day. Most of them have some sort of daily workout routine which they do before having breakfast in the cafeteria.

"Hey Zelda, Mario," said Samus as she walked up to the table they were sitting at with a tray piled high with proteins and carbs.

"Good morning Samus," replied Mario.

"So, anybody doing anything interesting today," asked Zelda as Samus dug into her food with relish.

"Luigi's having a ping-pong tournament. Of course, I don't recall Ping-Pong being one of the skills in your dossier, but who knows? You might get lucky.".

"Speaking of which, has anyone seen Fox yet," asked Falco, who was sitting at the table next to them. "I didn't see him in the gym, and he's usually one of the first ones there."

"He's probably hiding under a rock," laughed Samus

"Hey now, be nice," said Zelda with a smile.

"Why? He got beaten by freaking Luigi. No offense Mario," retorted Samus.

"None taken. And I'm sure Fox is around here somewhere. He's probably beating up a Sandbag or something."

"Right. Best to leave him to it. He gets irritable when he loses, and he probably isn't in any situation he doesn't think he can handle," said Falco.

* * *

Laughing, the group kept talking in the mess hall, no one aware of Fox and Kirby's plight.

Lucario paced the halls of the Mansion. He was one of the newer contestants, but had already earned respect from the other fighters as a level-headed warrior with a deep sense of honor. In addition, he also had a trait that made him distinct from the other Pokemon here. He could speak English and converse with pretty much every fighter in the Mansion, a byproduct of his psychic abilities.

He knew that today was a rest day, but for some reason it was impossible for him. His psychic abilities were telling him that something was wrong, but he didn't know where to look. Right now, he focused on finding the source of his worry.

As he walked passed the simulator room, he was struck with a sense of anxiety coming from inside. Glancing over at the console. He saw it was occupied by Kirby and Fox. Not a sparring team he would have chosen, but maybe Fox had turned over a new leaf.

Usually he refrained from reading people's minds, but all he could read of Fox's emotions was mind numbing boredom, something that shouldn't ever happen in a simulator room due to the fact that you can make whatever world you want.

He walked up to the control panel near the door and saw that the Boss Battle scenario was loaded. Something that should most definitely not be boring. He flipped it over to show the view in the simulator room, and was surprised to see Fox and Kirby in the cave between bosses.

He reached out with his mind and touched Fox's thoughts. _Fox McCloud, are you alright? I sense great anxiety, and it appears you are not moving on with this program._

On the screen, he could see Fox look around the cave. _Lucario, is that you? Thank god. I was worried nobody would find us for a day or so._

_What is the problem Fox?_

_Kirby managed to break the simulator somehow, and now we're stuck in here. We can't end the program, and I can't fix whatever is wrong from in here._

Lucario thought about that to himself. It certainly was a problem. _Hold on. I will get the others._

_Thanks Lucario. And be quick about it, will you? I don't think I can take being stuck in here with Kirby for much longer._

Lucario ran off through the halls to find the other Brawlers and tell them of Fox and Kirby's plight.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Thanks to everyone who has commented so far. I've been reading them, and I'll try to incorporate your criticism into my writing.

* * *

As the cafeteria finished serving breakfast and the fighters prepared to leave to get on with their mornings, they were startled as Lucario ran into the cafeteria, looking a little out of breath.

"I must speak with Samus, Falco, Wolf, R.O.B, and Snake," said Lucario. The named fighters glanced at each other, wondering what Lucario wanted, then walked up to him.

"We have a problem. Come with me please," said Lucario, before walking out of the cafeteria. The others followed closely after, unsure of why exactly they were needed.

Lucario led them through the halls back to the simulator room. When he arrived, he activated the internal cameras so the group could see inside.

Samus glanced at it then looked away. "I don't see what the problem is. Fox and Kirby are in the simulator. So what?"

"Because," replied Lucario. "They are stuck in there."

Falco nodded, suddenly understanding. "I wondered why Fox wasn't in the gym earlier. And anyone who knows Fox knows he only trains alone."

Lucario reached out with his thoughts and touched Fox's mind. _Fox McCloud. I have brought help._

Fox's head jerked to look at the cameras. _Alright. See if they can get me out of here._

Lucario communicated Fox's words to the group outside. He then added, "Fox has tried disabling the program from the inside, but this failed. He hopes it can be fixed from outside the machine."

Samus nodded, moving into business mode with the advent of a crisis. "Alright. I'll hack into the programming from this terminal. Falco, go down to my ship and get my diagnostic tools."

As Falco left, Samus began typing on the control panel, accessing the base subroutines of the simulator room, looking for the problem area. She quickly moved past the main screen to enter the programming base of the simulator. Nothing immediately stood out, but she couldn't tell for sure. When Falco returned with her diagnostic tools, she plugged them in and started running a scan for errors. She frowned as the result came back.

"Lucario, tell Fox that the scan is incomplete, since there are some aspects of the programming that can only be accessed when a fight is going on."

Lucario relayed the message to Fox. Inside the simulator, Fox sighed and pulled himself up. "Alright Kirby, help has arrived. But they need us to fight this next Boss."

Kirby looked at Fox in surprise. He didn't know that Fox had been talking with the outside this whole time. It certainly made things more frustrating, since he had nothing to distract himself. But, at least now he could let out his energy. Together, the two of them stepped through the portal that led to the next state.

As the flash of light faded away, the two warriors found themselves on top of a rapidly moving Falcon Flyer. A metallic roar ripped through the tunnel, and the two warriors spun around to see a giant metal dragon flying above the back engines. It was Meta Ridley, the boss that never seemed to stay dead for some weird reason.

Fox whipped out his laser pistol and started shooting while Kirby went into a spin jump, his arms and legs slamming into Meta Ridley as they rotated. In retaliation, the metal dragon launched several fireballs from its mouth to impact along the length of the Flyer. Kirby was hit due to being too close to Meta Ridley to dodge, but Fox managed to jump over the barrage. He resumed shooting as he landed.

Kirby got back on his feet from being hit by the fireball and decided to try a different tactic. He opened his mouth really wide, reached in, and pulled out a sword. Fox stared at the sword that had somehow appeared in Kirby's hand. "I knew he had an appetite, but that's ridiculous."

Kirby leapt up with the sword raised in his hands then slashed down, cutting into Meta Ridley's metal skin. The metal dragon roared and then went onto the attack, its tail gouging out chunks of metal from the hull as it powered itself across the deck. As fox hopped over the tail, he he delivered a punishing kick to Meta Ridley's midsection, then landed lightly on his feet. As the metal dragon returned to its position above the rear engines, Kirby stabbed up with his sword and cut into Meta Ridley's stomach.

The metal dragon roared and then fell back in the tunnel. Fox holstered his pistol as he waited for Meta Ridley to make its next move. The metal dragon raced forward and slammed down on the back of the Flyer, dragging it towards the bottom of the tunnel despite resistance from its engines.

"That isn't good," commented Fox as he moved to the front of the Flyer, which was elevated higher in relation to the rest of the ship. Suddenly, things got a lot harder as Meta Ridley shot off fireballs to hit the fighters. He leapt up to dodge, but the lower height of the platform meant that he wouldn't be able to dodge the last one. He activated the charge process for his boost shoes and as power gathered there, he got ready for the jump.

"Fire," he yelled, activating the thrusters that tossed him over the fireball.

As he landed, he he noticed the Flyer had moved back to a stable position in the middle of the tunnel. He pulled out his pistol and went back to shooting Meta Ridley, while Kirby stabbed at the metal dragon with his sword.

Another attack with his tail knocked Kirby's sword out of his hands and off of the Flyer, but Kirby simply reached into his mouth and pulled out another sword.

"Seriously? How many swords does he have in there," asked Fox to no one in particular.

Kirby smiled and tossed the sword into the air and then slammed it down, cutting through Meta Ridley's chest. Fox focuses on that spot, causing it to get even more injured. Although Meta Ridley launched some more fireballs and did another tail slide attack, it was soon defeated. The metal dragon roared as the accumulated damage shorted out its circuit pathways. This led to a climactic power overload, causing Metas Ridley to explode in multiple fireballs as it fell off to the side and was soon far back int eh distance from the Flyer.

Kirby smiled and threw the sword off the Flyer before they were teleported back to the cave. Fox holstered his pistol and then stared up into one of the cameras. _Alright, done. What did Samus learn?_

Lucario asked Samus, who sighed in response. "I still haven't located the error. That's not the main issue though. It appears that whatever did this has changed the parameters of the scenario. They can't exit until they totally beat the simulation."

As Lucario relayed the message to Fox, a message popped up on the screen. Samus's heart dropped as she read it. "Oho no. This is not good."

"What is it," asked Lucario. "Somehow, the safety protocols got deactivated. If they die in the game, then they'll be dead in real life too."

Shaken, Lucario relayed the message to Fox, who groaned. "Great, just what I need. More pressure. He glanced over to see Kirby consuming a heart from the platform behind the teleporter. "Hey," shouted fox as he ran over, too late to stop Kirby but determined to make sure this didn't happen again. "Don't do that. We need those hearts to last us all ten bosses."

Kirby looked at Fox and sighed He had taken more damage than Fox had, and he'd probably need a heart to beat the next boss. Who was Fox to call him out?

Fox, oblivious to Kirby's sadness, got his breath back as he prepared to go face the next boss. This was going to be a long day.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Thank you to all who posted reviews. Keep them coming. They're very informative and helpful so I can know where to better.

* * *

The situation in the mansion near the simulator room had become charged very quickly after Samus had discovered the altered programming. Snake had left the hallway, saying "Not my skill set. You need something dead, you call me."

Wolf on the other hand, was sticking around, although he wasn't helping to save Fox or Kirby at all. "I'm just here to watch Fox die," he responded to Samus's question of why he was still here.

"Well, you're taking up my space, so beat it," snapped Samus. In response, Wolf merely grinned and stepped back.

She was bouncing ideas off of Fox through Lucario when Meta Knight showed up dressed in his typical suit of armor with a face mask and cape. "I heard that there was a situation," he said with a slightly Spanish accent combined with a metallic sound, presumably from his face mask.

Samus waved him off. "Yeah. I'm a bit busy right now if you don't mind." She kept her main focus on Lucario. "Why don't we just shut off power to the mansion?"

Lucario waited with his head tilted and then relayed Fox's answer. "The shock from sudden power loss could kill them, or detrimentally affect their cognitive functions such as sight or hearing."

Meta Knight walked up to Samus. "I see you are endeavoring to save Fox."

"Yes, they are. They are currently working on a rescue plan," replied R.O.B as he rolled up near Meta Knight.

"I was wondering where Kirby was," mused Meta Knight. "It was unusual for his absence to not be noticed. Although I also find it odd that no one else seemed to care."

Samus sighed. "Look, kinda busy here. Not now."

She shut up as Meta Knight seemed to grow darker, as if he was sucking the light out of the room into his body. Through his psychic powers, Lucario could feel the aura surrounding him grow black as night. "No. You listen Samus Aran. As much as you and the rest of us may be annoyed by Kirby's antics, he is no less deserving in respect as a warrior than the rest of us. HE MATTERS. I heard your conversation earlier and not once was Kirby mentioned by anyone in your group."

Samus was undaunted by Meta Knights show. She had faced down creatures that make him look like a cheap kids toy. She got right up in his mask covered face. "We didn't know we had to be worried about him. The cafeteria kicks him out after 9 AM so there will be enough food for the rest of us."

"Still, no one thought it odd that he was not seen in the halls?"

Before the argument could escalate further, Lucario interjected. "Samus Aran."

Samus snapped her attention back to Lucario. "What is it" she asked, anger still in her voice.

"It appears Fox has grown impatient and moved on to the next fight while you and Meta Knight were arguing."

Samus and Meta Knight glanced at each other and then turned their attention to the monitor, where they saw Fox and Kirby taking on the third boss.

* * *

"Hah" grunted Fox as he leapt over the empty cage being held by a giant plant with a flower head. "Piranha plants. Only in Mario's world," he said as he landed.

Kirby was on the other side of the large plant, beating the cage there with his pink fists. With three obvious weak spots on it, the Piranha Plant was the weakest boss in the simulation. Of course, that wasn't necessarily so good, as it meant the harder bosses would be later, when they had used up more hearts and were getting closer to the end.

The Piranha Plant roared and jumped into the air, slamming down its cages and creating a minor shockwave that both fighters were able to dodge. The two of them ran to attack the motionless left cage, Kirby unleashing a flurry of punches while Fox kicked the cage repeatedly.

There was another roar and a cage swept across the stage in the middle of the arena. Kirby barely cleared it, but Fox was hit and got sent flying.

"Huff. Not yet jerk. I'm not out yet," he grunted as he rolled from the rough landing to a standing position. He pulled out his laser pistol and started shooting at the left cage as Kirby attacked up close

The subsequent sweep by the left cage caught Kirby and threw him into the air. He landed on the side of Fox opposite the cage. "Poy-Pai," complained Kirby.

He was tired of being the one who took most of the damage in these fights simply because he didn't have a quick range attack. Then, he had an idea. Facing Fox, he opened his mouth wide and began forcefully sucking in air. Fox was lifted off his feet and before he could cry out he was sucked into Kirby's mouth.

"Agh," shouted Fox as he reached around and felt the dark warmth of Kirby's mouth. As he felt it press in round him, he was sure that Kirby was going to swallow him and that he'd never been seen again. An ignoble way to die if there ever was one. He didn't expect Kirby to violently spit him out, and Fox landed on his back, covered in saliva from Kirby's mouth.

He quickly got up and rounded on Kirby as he wiped himself off as best he could. He saw that Kirby was wearing a headband with fox ears and a belt like Fox's. "What the heck man. Not cool. You don't just go and..."

Foxes tirade was interrupted as a cage slammed into his back and sent him airborne. Managing to twist around in midair, he landed in a crouch. Spinning around, he saw Kirby already shooting at the Piranha Plant with an exact copy of Fox's pistol, straight down to the initials "FM" on the butt of the handle.

Fox grumbled. "I'm never going to get this out of my clothes," but he also pulled out his pistol and added his fire to Kirby's.

The Piranha roared under the combined fire then jumped into the air, slamming down but missing both fighters, who ran to the side and shot at the right cage.

"Dang it, the left side," yelled Fox, and he sprinted over around the cages to the other side of the Piranha Plant. Once there, he unleashed Fox Illusion, dashing back and forth so fast that when he was running he was almost invisible. Under this and Kirby's laser barrage, the Piranha Plant couldn't stand any more punishment and collapsed to the floor of the stage, exploding as it fell.

Kirby waddled up to fox just before they were teleported back. Fox was not so amused, and holstered his pistol before yelling at Kirby. "Hey, warn me next time you're going to pull a stunt like that. I thought you were going to eat me."

"Puy. Pai-Poy," responded Kirby, miffed at the very thought that he would do something like that.

As Kirby holstered his own pistol, Fox walked over to the holographic image, and his heart sank. "Dang. Porky is up next. This is not going to be fun."

He walked over and picked up a Heart. Lifting it above his head, he crushed it, letting the dust from it fall all over him, rejuvenating his body and healing the wounds it touched.

_So Lucario. Does Samus have a plan yet?_


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: This was delayed by college. But I got around to it. Also, at this point I think I've pretty handily lost this contest, checking the other entrees, so I'm just writing it for the sake of finishing it now. Thanks to everyone who did comment. Hope you enjoy the rest of the stury.

SSB is owned by Nintendo.

* * *

In another part of the mansion, a fighter watched the display of prowess occurring in the simulator room with a smile on his face. "Ah, Fox and Kirby. Very impressive. If they could learn to get along, they would be a formidable team."

The fighter clenched his fist, crushing the item he held in his palm. A sweet smell came to his senses, of mildew and forest.

* * *

"Unfortunately for them, they will not have that chance. Their part in this tournament ends with their lives."the fighter looked at the monitors which displayed the situation outside the simulator room before heading back into the mansion. It would not do to be not seen for a while. It would just attract suspicion. And that would be unwise. His part could not be revealed. At least, not yet.

"Okay, I've gone through every possibility I can think of, and I'm out of options," said Samus with resignation.

"I don't have anything either," added Falco.

"I can find no possible contingencies for this error in the operations manual," said R.O.B.

Wolf chuckled from the corner he was standing in. "Face it you fools. There's no way to save them. They're as good as dead. Might as well say your goodbyes and let fate take its course."

"Shut up Wolf," growled Falco. "I won't give up on them just yet."

"As I can determine from analysis of the situation, if we have no solution, then the only way for Fox and Kirby to escape is for them to complete the simulation."

"Thanks R.O.B," replied Samus. "Can we help them somehow? As strong as they are, I'm not sure they can make it all the way through without some outside help." Samus fell silent as she turned her mind on the problem.

Suddenly, Falco snapped his claws as a solution blazed into his mind. "R.O.B. Follow me."

The robot wordlessly rolled after Falco ax he walked over to the simulator control panel.

"Alright, I need you to hack into the base data archives and transfer some data over from Target Smash to Boss Battles."

Samus walked over to join the two of them. "Falco, what are you getting at?""We can't get Fox and Kirby out, right? So they have to win themselves. And the best way for us to make sure they both survive is by giving them weapons. There's weapons data in the Target Smash program. We just need to patch and apply it to Boss Battles."

"I will begin the necessary procedures," said R.O.B as a connection apparatus extended from his arm in the form of a thin metal rod and plugged into the jack to the right of the control panel. Data began scrolling across the robots red eyes in the form of ones and zeroes as it delved into the computers data stream.

Wolf snorted as he unfolded his arms and walked up to the trio. "You're forgetting something bird brain. There aren't any healing items in Target Smash, so once those hearts are gone, the damage will just keep piling up. They wont have a chance when they reach the end."

Falco walked up to Wolf and looked him straight in the eye. "You keep thinking that Wolf."

R.O.B's head swiveled to look at Samus. "This process will take approximately ten minutes. I suggest that Fox and Kirby defeat the next boss while I implement the program changes."

"I will tell Fox," replied Lucario, bowing his head to relay the message to the Brawler inside.

* * *

_Fox, we cannot remove you from the simulation from the outside. But Falco has devised a plan to aid you in completing the simulation._

Fox smiled at that thought. Good old Falco, He could be an annoying, egotistical jerk sometimes, but you could always count on him when it came down to it in the end.

_Alright. At least they're doing something._

Fox sighed and walked back over to Kirby. The pink warrior still had his Fox costume on, and Fox looked him over with an obvious disdain.

"You look ridiculous, but whatever. Just follow my lead, and we'll make it out alright. Nothing to it."

Kirby harrumphed, but followed closely after Fox. At the very least, Kirby could use him as a shield.

Flashing through the portal, they found themselves in an abandoned, dilapidated zoo. Facing them was a kid in some sort of suspension pod, which was held in a large purple spiderlike machine, with six legs and a bunch of sparking electrodes.

Fox pulled out his pistol and started shooting at Porky, and after a few seconds, Kirby did the same thing. Porky absorbed the shots into his metal frame, then raised two of his claws above the electrodes on top, creating a ball of energy between them. A laser lashed out from the energy ball towards Fox and Kirby. Fox quickly jumped and boosted out of the lasers path, but Kirby was hit repeatedly.

"Aiii," cried the pink warrior as he lost his Fox costume and the powers granted by it. The star containing the Fox powers popped out of his mouth and fell, shattering on the concrete path a his feet.

Fox inwardly smirked at Kirby losing his power as he ran up and started to hit Porky with a barrage of kicks. There was only one Fox, and he was not pink. He did know that kicking this metal wall was hurting his foot, although shudders ran through Porky from the hits.

Sadly for Fox, getting n close left him open to a jackhammer spike attack that struck him multiple times with painful force. Fox was lifted off his feet and forced to absorb the blows as Kirby stood back and watched, giving an uncharacteristic inward smirk at Fox's predicament. Fox had given him greif, so it was only fair he got some back

When the attack had ended, Kirby ran in and began hacking at the main metal body with another sword from his inexhaustible supply while Fox pulled himself to his feet.

"You'll pay for that," growled Fox.

He ran forward and added his attack to Kirby's. Porky issued a mechanical groan and leapt up into the sky, his back legs helping him steer as he flew. The front legs came together underneath the main body, and the electrodes near them activated, creating a ball of energy pointed downwards at the ground.

Fox's eyes widened. "Oh...Crap."

as the spotlight that designated the impact area shone down under the energy ball, Fox ran in one direction, and Kirby ran in the other. Fox ran to the right, and when he ran out of area to run, he looked up just in time to see the machine discharge a bolt of energy down at him.

"Gah," he yelled as the energy ripped through him. For a few brief seconds, he felt his nerves light on fire in agonizing pain. His head clouded as it began shutting down, only saved by the cutting off of the beam.

The beam cut off, Porky began moving after Kirby. Fox was thrown by the backlash of built up energy and almost felled into a pool filled with hungry crocodiles. He managed to catch himself and get back up, his feet almost in range of snapping jaws.

Huffing, he ran back to the area where Porky and Kirby were fighting to see Kirby just barely dodge a blast of energy aimed his way. When Porky started heading left again, Fox was ready this time, double jumping and boosting at the apex of his leap to land on the other side of Porky. After a few more times of frantic dodging, Porky slammed down to the ground, making a small ripple of concrete as Porky's mass pressed it down.

Fox wound up next to Kirby, who had pulled out another sword and was attacking. As he did, Fox got an idea that might end this fast so they couldn't get more hurt than they were. When Kirby had reached back for another slash, Fox grabbed his arm, much to Kirby's surprise.. Fox then hoisted him into the air, and began spinning him around.

"Think fast," he yelled as he threw Kirby towards Porky.

"Aaaaiiii," replied Kirby as he flew through the air. His flailing resulted in his sword ending up in front, and Kirby slammed his sword into Porky, the momentum behind that stab sliding the sword straight through the metal that made up Porky's metal body and into the container that held the real Porky. Looking to the side through the glass, he could see the sword cutting into Porky's arm, blood dripping from the wound onto the floor of the container.

Kirby pulled the sword out and jumped off the machine in horror. He wasn't a killer. People in his world didn't die. Even the Smashers didn't die, since Master Hand had safeguards in place to save them. It wasn't until now that he had realized what he could do without those safeguards. It was Fox's fault, not his...wasn't it? He had thrown Kirby after all.

Looking up, he saw Fox leap onto Porky and latch on where Kirby had just been. Then, Fox leveled his pistol against the hole Kirby's sword had made and began firing as fast as possible.

The machine gave out a mechanical screech and began bucking and lashing about with its legs, trying to throw off the person killing the controlling mind that guided the machine. Fox held on tenaciously as he fired, and slowly the machine slumped to the ground as Porky died.

Fox hopped off the inactive machine, holstered his pistol and wiped his hands at a job well accomplished. Further damaged avoided, that was for sure. Kirby waddled up and stared at Founds caused by the pistol, cauterized after impact due to the heat. Seeing this side of Fox, it scared him. A lot.

Fox sighed at Kirby's reaction. He would have to learn some time that the world wasn't all sunshine and roses, and this was as good a time as any. He pointedly refused to comfort Kirby as they were teleported away, just as he hadn't upon seeing his first death. The pink warrior would just have to work through it himself. It had worked with him, right?


End file.
